Hoses are often used to deliver hazardous materials, such as gasoline or propane, from a delivery vehicle to a storage tank. Portable hoses are typically used to deliver liquid material from the delivery vehicle to a storage tank, which may be located underground. For each delivery, the portable hose is connected to a connector on the vehicle and routed to the filler receptacle for the storage tank. A fluid pump on the vehicle is then started to pump a measured quantity of liquid material from the delivery vehicle into the storage tank.
Despite best safety practices and procedures, from time to time, such a hose occasionally separates or comes loose from the connector on the delivery vehicle. This may be due to improper connection or mating of the respective connectors on the end of the hose and on the delivery vehicle, due to a faulty connector, or due to other separation of the hose or the like. This can result in loss or spillage of the liquid material. However, more importantly, such disconnection or separation of the hose from the delivery vehicle can pose serious safety concerns if the liquid material is flammable or explosive, such as may occur with gasoline or propane, for example. Such spillages also create environmental problems.
For example, typical delivery rates for gasoline or propane may be about 300 gallons per minute. Even a quick manual response to a disconnection or separation of the delivery hose can easily result in the spillage of 100 gallons or more. Of course, such spillages may spread under the delivery vehicle and imperil the delivery vehicle in addition to any personnel in the area. There is therefore a need for quickly sensing and automatically terminating the delivery of flammable fuels upon any disconnection or separation of the hose from the vehicle.
Some delivery vehicles are equipped with a safety shutoff to stop the flow of fluid when unsafe conditions develop. However, in some instances, it may be unsafe to be in the vicinity of the safety shutoff, and it is also possible that the driver may be incapacitated.
There has been a long-felt need for an effective means of sensing the disconnection or separation of a hose from a delivery vehicle, and for automatically terminating the flow of the liquid material upon sensing the disconnection or separation.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide apparatus for sensing the disconnection or separation of a hose from a delivery vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide signals upon sensing the disconnection or separation of the hose that may be used to automatically terminate the flow of the liquid material from the vehicle, without human intervention, such as by shutting off the engine that operates the fluid pump.
Yet another object of the present invention is to sense the disconnection or separation of the hose from the delivery vehicle with a shock sensor as the hose hits the any object, the ground or the pavement.
A further object of the present invention is that the shock sensing apparatus not be affected by, or be responsive to, normal vibration at the hose during the usual pumping operations.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide radio frequency signals from the shock sensor that may be used by a receiver at the delivery vehicle to shut off the engine, to stop the pump and to automatically terminate the flow of the liquid materials upon disconnection or separation of the hose from the delivery vehicle.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide means for easy and rapid attachment of the shock sensor to the hose, and for rapid detachment therefrom.